Linguistic Drift
by CaffieneKitty
Summary: The French accent would definitely not have worked.


**Originally posted in July at Livejournal and AO3**  
 **Rating/Content:** PG13, humour, slight meta, fake American accents, Google-based Paris geography, don't try this it will not work **  
** **Disclaimer:** Not my world.  
 **Notes:** Written for **watsons_woes** July Writing Prompt #20: Put something or someone American in your entry. No insult intended to Benedict or Martin. Sherlock and John are just sassing each other.

 **Summary:** The French accent would definitely not have worked.

-.-

 **Linguistic Drift**

-.-

Once the iconic giant glass pyramid was well behind them, John slowed down and began wheezing with laughter. Sherlock soon joined him.

After a moment of leaning against a wall and wiping mirthful tears from his eyes, John chuckled. "Oh Christ. Sherlock, the bloody Louvre!"

With a twinkle in his eye, Sherlock hummed in amusement. "I'd have thought they'd hire more intelligent people for their security staff."

"Oh god, I know. Those two came around the corner and I thought that was it!" John grinned. "Can you believe they actually bought that we were just lost American tourists who didn't know the bloody place was closed on Tuesdays and wandered in by accident?"

Sherlock smirked back. "It's frankly astonishing, considering your accent wasn't even close to American."

"Mine!" John laughed. "Mine was brilliant. Yours now, yours was rubbish."

Sherlock huffed. "My American accent is flawless."

"No, no it really isn't." John snorted. "Your French accent was better than whatever that was."

"It was an American accent." With a glance back in case of pursuers, Sherlock began walking down the Quai du Louvre. "A firm and serviceable midwestern accent."

"Nope," John said, following along beside.

"What about yours? _You_ sounded like a guest on Jeremy Kyle."

"That was an American accent Sherlock, a genuine _real_ American accent!"

Sherlock made rude noise. "No American ever sounded like that. Not even a cartoon Canadian sounds like that."

John strode along beside Sherlock. "One of the orderlies I worked with when I was stationed at Kandahar was from Minnesota, and that is _exactly_ what he sounded like."

A large lorry passed them as they walked, tires hissing in the light rain. "Really?"

"Why would I lie? It's a state in America; he was from it and that's how he spoke." John and Sherlock stopped at an intersection to wait for traffic to clear. "Regardless, it worked."

"Hm. Well. In any case please refrain from saying 'hello dere' or 'doncha know' or 'you betcha' in my presence again." Sherlock grimaced as he repeated the phrases. "I may have strained an internal organ trying to keep a straight face in front of that guard."

John giggled. "I could tell, your eyes were practically popping out of your head."

The light changed and they continued along the Quai du Louvre. "Do you really think my American accent is bad?"

"It's passable obviously, but it's..." John wobbled a hand in the air. "Off. I don't know quite how. Like a BBC American accent. Half of it's in Birmingham and the other half's in Ohio."

Sherlock sniffed. "It's fooled Americans. It fooled the guards."

"Fair enough," John said with an equitable shrug as they turned right to walk across the Pont Neuf. "As I said before; 'regardless, it worked.'"

"Yes, and well worth it." Sherlock steepled his fingers as he walked, rubbing his index fingers against his lips in thought. "Three of those bronzes were almost certainly fake. I'd need access and a chemical test to be sure. No way to ask for access without knowing who among the staff has switched them out, not without risking tipping them off."

"So what's next then?"

"We need to look deeper into the staff's criminal and personal history to pare down the suspect list." Sherlock put his hands in his pockets and sped up his pace. "My contact at the Préfecture will have drawn up the preliminary list by now. That's where we're headed; in fact we're nearly there already."

Glancing sideways at Sherlock, John grinned evilly. "Okey-dokey!"

Sherlock's affronted "John!" echoed down the Seine.

-.-.-  
(that's it)

 _To hear the accents they are using, look the following up on YouTube_

 _-Sherlock's American Accent: "Benedict Cumberbatch - The Whistleblower"  
-John's Minnesotan Accent: "Fargo TV Trailer"_


End file.
